Sir, – At 7am on Wednesday, respected Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead while working in Jenin refugee camp in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. Eye witnesses and other journalists at the scene said the area was quiet, there was no other gunfire, when Israeli forces shot her dead. They also injured another journalist.
Her employer, Al Jazeera, said she was “assassinated in cold blood” by being shot in the face. The International Federation of Journalists called it systematic targeting: “Yet again journalists wearing press vests, clearly identified, were targeted by Israeli snipers”. Journalist bodies emphasised this was an attack on truth, and the public’s right to know. This reality was reflected in coverage by CNN in the US, Channel 4 news, and the Washington Post, which reported the killing as “American reporter killed by IDF ( Israeli Defence Force)”.
Yet by 8am the Israeli spin machine was in action, and RTÉ news right through the morning reported as though the facts were difficult to establish. It quoted the Israeli army as “looking into the possibility that journalists were hit by Palestinian gunmen”. The Israeli prime minister was quoted as believing that, “Palestinian gunmen were likely responsible for Ms Abu Akleh’s death”, a claim that had to be softened later that day. Yet RTÉ’s lead headline was not the shocking, barbarous killing of a working journalist, but the “ refusal by the Palestinian Authority to join with Israel in an investigation”.
The United Nations has called for a truly independent investigation of the facts of this killing. Israel, as ever, has refused to accept such an independent, transparent enquiry.
In the meantime, away from the spotlight, human rights organisation Euro Med monitor has documented the killing of 47 Palestinians, including eight children and two women, by Israeli forces in 2022. – Yours, etc,
BETTY PURCELL,
Dublin 6W.